Temco ASM-N-8Corvus

In 1955, the U.S. Navy had a requirement for a long-range nuclear-armed heavy standoff air-to-surface missile to be
employed by the latest carrier-based attack bombers like the A3J Vigilante and A4D Skyhawk. In April 1955, the
ASM-N-8Raven project was initiated to develop such a missile. In the same year, a parallel project for the Corvus
anti-radar missile was redefined to cover the Raven requirements, and therefore Raven was terminated and the ASM-N-8
designation transferred to Corvus. A development contract for the ASM-N-8 Corvus was eventually awarded to Temco in
January 1957, and the first flight test of an XASM-N-8 prototype occurred in July 1959.

Image: Vought

XASM-N-8

The XASM-N-8 was powered by a prepackaged liquid-propellant rocket engine, and used delta wings and cruciform tailfins for flight
stability and control. The Corvus was primarily designed as an anti-radar missile (ARM), and as such had a passive radar seeker in
the nose to home on the emission of shore- and ship-based enemy radars. However, the Corvus seeker could also home on non-radiating
targets when they were illuminated by a compatible radar in the launching aircraft. In the latter operating mode there was also a data-link
between the missile and the launching aircraft, which could thereby provide mid-course command guidance until the missile's seeker could
detect the radar reflections from the target. The missile could be launched from high or low level, and design ranges for high-altitude
launches were 315 km (170 nm) in ARM mode and 185 km (100 nm) in semi-active homing mode. Corvus was to be armed with a
light-weight W-40 nuclear warhead (10 kT yield).

By March 1960, the XASM-N-8 test program had progressed to fully guided flights, but in July that year the Corvus program
was terminated. The reason was that overall responsibility for long-range nuclear air-to-surface missiles had been transferred to the
U.S. Air Force, which regarded the Corvus as unneccessary.

Specifications

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!